About Me

Born in the late 60's, Chesy hails from a Welsh mining village with a long name and was pretty glad when he got the Hell out of there. He got into Rock/Metal in about 1980, thanks to a TISWAS related incident (Rainbow video for All Night Long) and thankfully has never looked back.
Chesy often sang solo in the school choir, but thanks to a puberty related incident his voice is now completely bolloxed, although in his own head Paul thinks he sounds like a blend of Coverdale and Dio (R.I.P).
He was brought up on the classics - Deep Purple, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Rush, Whitesnake and loved melodic rock and the Hair Bands of the 80's. (Nowadays, he has progressed a little and prefers a more technical and/or progressive metal - Dream Theater, Rush, Symphony X, Porcupine Tree, Pain Of Salvation, Spock's Beard. He hates Black and Death Metal (can't stand the grunting) but for some unknown reason loves the magnificent Opeth! He wont stop this blog until his beloved FM finally play the likes of the NEC as a headlining act!!!

Thursday, 3 November 2016

I
have to admit, if I had a voice like Glenn Hughes, I myself would call it ‘The
Voice of Rock’. Few singers, and I mean few have the set of pipes they were
singing with 30 years ago. In Hughes’ case, make that almost 50 years. The
bloke is a phenomenon. Most people’s careers would have been cut short had they
taken more than Calpol for a prolonged period in the 80s. Thankfully Hughes
came out of that decade relatively unscathed, and now in 2016 we have his long
awaited solo album, Resonate. It’s been 8 years since his last (Jesus where
does time go?)

The
last few years have been troubled so to speak, a falling out over BCC (but now
thankfully resolved and back on track), and the quite short lived (but
excellent) California Breed album. I get the feeling he could be demanding. But
after a stint with Blackmore, who wouldn’t be!

The
fire has obviously been raging within Hughes as he’s has served up one of his
best efforts yet - whether its a solo album, Deep Purple, project or otherwise.
One thing you know you’re getting from Hughes is his bluesy, soulful tones. He
could almost call it Ronseal and not Resonate as you know exactly what you are
gonna get from him. That said, the Hughes hammer falls more on the rock side
than his soulful side for resonate, and that people is one huge plus. The
opening bars of ‘Heavy’ are offering up his intent. Hughes voice rips though
the speakers on the chorus, and into your ears. Coupled with Chad Smiths pounding
drums and Soren Andersen’s guitar riffs, and it makes for one memorable opening
track. Thankfully he is not intent with taking his foot off the gas at any
point, with ‘MyTown’. It has Pontus
Enborg on drums for this and most of the album, and again it just pounds you
into submission with that glorious chorus. Hughes is truly on a mission from
God.

“Flow’
begins with a huge, dirty riff that a lot of metal bands would die for, and is
a huge slice of stadium rock. ‘Let It Shine’ is a song that seems to come
effortlessly out of Hughes, and shows his versatility for just a melodic number
as he side steps the Classic Rock vibe for a second. ‘Steady’ harks back to the
days of Deep Purple with its organ intro with Lachy Doley giving his all,
before the band wade in in equal measure. ‘God Of Money finishes off what would
be Side 1 so to speak with a doom lade, track driven by Hughes’ bass guitar.
The opening bars to ‘How Long’ are the type that used to fill stadia in the
late 60s a huge swirling wall of sound. The album take off at a big tangent
with the restrained ‘When I Fall’, built on Glenn Hughes rich and soulful
voice, mellotron, and orchestral strings and proves to be a beautiful vehicle
for ‘that’ voice.

Glenn
heads home to the funk with ‘Landmines’, and is akin to the early days of RHCP,
whereas ‘Stumble and Go’ is a straightforward rocker with a riff that reminds
me a little of Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’. Chad Smith returns for
closer ‘Long Time Gone’, and proves to be a true partner in crime for Hughes.
It’s a fine way to end, with some incendiary vocals, and goes for the jugular.
Like catnip for the ears, you just want to stick it back on and go through the
whole album again.

Hughes
has been on autopilot for some of his previous solo albums, but not this one. On
Resonate he clearly takes the reins and drives this one forward, every inch a
muscling, and powering supercharged beast of an album. I though Frontiers had
topped themselves this year with The Defiants, but coming up to the tape its
Hughes by a head, make that a length.

This
is what CLASSIC ROCK is all about! Resonate isn’t about making a small ripple,
it’s a huge wave of sound that will be heard around the world. One of the elder
statesmen of rock has pulled off one of the finest albums of his career

It’s
a crying shame that he has been forced to cancel his UK tour as this album is
something special and deserves to be heard live. Be quick in coming back to
your homeland dude, we are waiting….